In 1980, my friend, Jim, and I decided to hike in the Uinta Mountains of Utah. Stuart Johnson, another good friend from the Geothermal Branch of Philips Petroleum said if we wanted to find good fishing, we should hike to Cliff Lake, just to the north of Kings Peak. He said very few people managed to get there. So, we made plans.

We got the maps and headed out from Bartlesville in August and drove 1,051 miles to Mountain View, Wyo., and then to the end of the road to the south to China Meadows Trailhead at 9,250 ft. elevation. We put on our boots and packs and hiked on the Big Meadows trail and the Henrys Fork trail to a small unnamed lake and set up camp. We were now at 10,800 ft. elevation after 10 miles hiking.

We had a heifer moose walk through our camp. She was a lot bigger than us, so we let her. The next morning, we saw a cow elk with twin calves 50 yards away! The next day, we hiked to Cliff Lake, another 5 miles to 11,500 ft. elevation above timberline. We set up camp and tried to light our small gas stoves. The wind was too high, and they would not stay lit! I was wearing hiking shorts with my cold gear. I was not cold, but I wanted hot food!

While we were at that campsite, I was struck by the similarity of this wilderness to others we had hiked in. In the last five years we had hiked in the Big Horn Crags and Sawtooths (twice) of Idaho, the mission Mountains of Montana and the Wind Rivers (twice) of Wyoming. Particularly, the similarity of the Uintas and Wind Rivers impressed me. Although the Uintas were nearly billion-year-old sedimentary rocks from ancient beaches, dunes and oceans, and the Wind River rocks were 2-billion-year-old granite from the roots of ancient volcanoes, the mountain ranges were similar in construction: narrow ranges cresting to high plateaus. We chose our sites for mountains and lakes, and all the locations were excellent for that.

Sitting in the windy and cold weather, I was wondering why I was doing this again! What value did it have for me? I decided that I could compare the advantages and disadvantages of the wilderness and civilization. My basic reason for backpacking has always been to visit beautiful places that cannot be driven to. The backpacking is only a necessary part of that effort.

The wilderness: wild beauty of landscape and animals; no crowds, hiking with good friends, no news versus no escape from the weather, no easy replacement of broken equipment, no church.

Civilization: easy availability of things, association with family and friends, church versus crowds, traffic, news.

We were above timberline there and decided to hike down to a grove of trees a couple of miles away at 11,100 ft. elevation. We set up camp again, and our stoves stayed lit in the more sheltered spot. We got our hot food and a good night’s sleep. The next morning, there was snow at our higher campsite!

We broke camp and hiked to Milk Lake (11,240 feet elevation) through Gunsight Pass (11,900 feet elevation), a total of 7 miles. On the way, we saw our first two people: two sheepherders on horseback with about 5,000 sheep. They were soon out of sight.

We set up camp at Milk Lake and fished at the lake. We caught seven nice cutthroat trout right away and left them on a stinger in the cold lake water and then set up camp. I went back for the fish, and a weasel had eaten half of one of them! Its body was the same length as that of the trout! It ran under a pine bush 6 feet away and watched me intently. I removed the half-eaten fish and left it. As I walked back up to our camp, I looked back and saw the weasel dart out and seize the fish half and retreat under the bush again. You know you are in a wild place if you are visited by a weasel! We had a nice supper, including the fish.

The next day, we ate breakfast, broke camp and started west to East Red Castle Lake, over Anderson Pass (12,700 feet elevation) on the North flank of Kings Peak (13,528 feet elevation) less than a mile to the south. As we approached the pass, I observed the switchbacks and expected to rest some on the way up, but we just walked right over without stopping! (I had been running that summer in Milford, Utah, at 5,000 feet elevation.) We continued for 10 miles to East Red Castle Lake (11,200 feet elevation) and set up camp. We tried fishing there, but there were myriads of small black “bugs” in the lake, and the fish were all sated!

I walked around the lake and noticed an underwater ledge on the far side. I told Jim to try casting his silver spoon just over the ledge. He did so and reeled back in. A BIG trout rolled up and over the edge, observing the curiosity. He was not hungry enough to bite. We had a nice meal and slept well that night. We got up in the morning, ate breakfast, broke camp, and hiked 10 miles down to our car on E. Fork Smiths Fork Trail. We saw five backpackers hiking up, for a total of seven people for the five-day hike. We found a motel somewhere in Wyoming, got cleaned up, put on clean clothes, ate pizza, and slept in beds. We drove back to Bartlesville by the end of the weekend.